The London Daily Newsletter Thursday 16 February

On 16 February 1946, the first commercial helicopter, the four-seat Sikorsky S51, single rotor helicopter first flew. It was the first Sikorsky helicopter to be licensed by the U.S. Civil Aviation Administration for commercial operations. The world’s first commercial sale was confirmed, with deliveries in August 1946, to Helicopter Air Transport of Philadelphia. It marked the end of the first phase of the helicopter’s evolution. The design established would be followed by others to this day. It could carry 3 passengers over 400 kilometres at a speed of 160 kp/h. The S51 had a 15 metre span and a length of 12.5 metres.

Blake Hall
Blake Hall station was opened by the Great Eastern Railway on 1 April 1865 and closed on 2 November 1981.

Steam locomotives operated by British Railways for the Underground ran a shuttle service from Epping to Ongar, stopping at Blake Hall, from 1949 until 1957, when the line was electrified and taken over by the Underground’s Central line. On 18 April 1966 the goods yard was closed and Blake Hall became a dedicated passenger station. On 17 October 1966, Sunday services were withdrawn. Blake Hall became reputed as the least-used station on the entire Underground network. Fare subsidies provided on the rest of the system were not provided on this part of the line because local government agencies for Essex and London failed to agree on their respective public transport responsibilities, and Blake Hall station was located a considerable distance from any substantial settlement. By the time services were permanently discontinued on 31 October 1981, the station was reported to have only 17 passengers per day. The station was permanently closed down on 2 November 1981. The Epping to Ongar branch line was closed 13 years later, on 30 September 1994. Blake Hall’s station building has since been converted into a private home.

TUM Book Club: Tube Mapper Project
Photographer Luke Agbaimoni created the Tube Mapper project allowing him to be creative, fitting photography around his lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute.

The Underground is the backbone of the city of London, a part of our identity. It’s a network of shared experiences and visual memories, and most Londoners and visitors to the city will at some point have an interaction with the London Underground tube and train network. Photographer Luke Agbaimoni gave up city-scape night photography after the birth of his first child, but creating the Tube Mapper project allowed him to continue being creative, fitting photography around his new lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute. His memorable photographs consider such themes as symmetry, reflections, tunnels and escalators, as well as simply pointing out and appreciating the way the light falls on a platform in an evening sunset. This book reveals the London every commuter knows in a unique, vibrant and arresting style.

“Some High, Lonely Tow’r” Woolwich-based artist Gail Brodholt creates striking linocuts of her city. “I suppose what I’m really interested in is those unconsidered and unnoticed places that people pass through,” says Brodholt, “They are on their way to somewhere else, presumably more important — on the escalators, on the tube, train station platforms, motorways..”

Gail Brodholt

Video: Flying into LCY
A simulated flight into LCY courtesy of Google Earth Studio.